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~ I&#39;m preparing a &quot;survival cooking&quot; class for college students studying abroad in Florence with recipes of local ingredients,small stovetop, prep/serve in less than 60 minutes. Suggestions? See you at http://www.madisonhousechef.com/di-cucina-in-italia.html ~Enjoy!

My blog

About me

The Madison House Chef (aka Denise) is a 40-something, professional, wife, and mother of two who loves to cook and to eat, share favorite recipes, and explore new flavors.

I became the Madison House Chef back in late summer of 1999, our family (then 3 of us) moved from an apartment into a beautiful 1936 house on Madison Street. In the midst of the physical moving, which took place over several days, our son, who was 3 at the time, would ask "Mommy, where are we having lunch, at the apartment or at The Madison House? Frequently, the answer was The Madison House. The name stuck on the house and even after having moved to Texas in 2006 we still refer to that home as 'The Madison House.'

The "Chef" moniker came about in this way: I used to wear an apron but quit doing so in the Madison House because the pocket on my favorite apron (one that belonged to my grandmother) used to get caught on the old pointy-end drawer pulls of the cupboards. If I'm not wearing some sort of covering, I end up wiping my hands on my shirt or dripping something on my front. I needed chef coats! Thus, my terrific husband bought me a couple of white chef's coats. On each coat he ordered an embroidered The Madison House in my favorite shade of green. From thence forth, I became known as the Madison House Chef.

Even now, my mother (who with my dad has a catering company) will call me and say, "This is Lake of the Woods Catering calling for The Madison House Chef."

Cooking Influences

My mother and my grandmothers were my earliest influences.

I do however, come from a family where everyone cooks -- often at the same time for the same event. (When we built our home in 2006 we made sure that a minimum of 3 people at a time could stand side by side at each of the countertops.) My husband, son, brother and father are also great cooks and my daughter, who is 7 years old, is now taking up the towel and apron and beginning her culinary apprenticeship under the guidance of my mother and myself.

Today, I'm influenced by a love of travel through which I've discovered a multitude of flavor profiles, by reading and experimenting with a variety of cookbooks and chefs, and by the desire to provide my family and friends (who visit often "to eat") with good tasting, quality, real ingredient based meals.